Event Review: Tropical F*ck Storm - Goody Goody Gumdrops Livestream

‘It’s 82 minutes of your life you’ll never get back…’

Melbourne bred, noise rock band Tropical F*ck Storm has shaken up the status quo again, releasing a feature length film showing off a little behind the scenes of how the band operates and survived lockdown.

TFS is a supergroup featuring members from other Melbourne bands – successful in their own right: Lauren Hammel from High Tension, Erica Dunn from Mod Con and Gareth Liddiard and Fiona Kitschin from the Drones. The band debuted in 2018 with the loud and confident album A Laughing Death in Meatspace featuring politically and socially charged anthems such as ‘Soft Power’ and ‘Rubber Bullies’ but its standout track is its opener, ‘You Let My Tyres Down,’ a heart-breaking love song that hammers home the tragic nature of the narrator’s relationship via frantic wailing guitars and desperate vocals. Despite the intense nature of many of the songs, the band also displayed their slower side in songs like ‘Shellfish Toxins’ featuring samples and more varied, intricate instrumentation.

Following this the band further developed their sound and style, introducing more synthesisers and samples as a way of further driving home their message in their second album, Braindrops. Their most recent album Deep States directly tackles the plethora of growing issues facing modern society. Quotes like “One death’s a tragedy, we want the stats. Sadistic statistics keep the shit abstract,” taken from ‘G.A.F.F.’ seem so poignant it hurts, while also highlighting the band’s flowing lyrical nature.

Their movie, titled Goody Goody Gumdrops, was filmed over one of the Melbourne lockdowns, taking place at TFS HQ somewhere in the Victorian bush, which features heavily in the doco. The landscape is absolutely stunning and also works well as a backdrop for the beautiful, chaotic compositions put forward by the band. The band states that “This is our 8 MILE, our Magical Mystery Tour, our Straight Outta Compton…” while also warning with the tagline “It’s 82 minutes of your life you’ll never get back…”

After a tone-setting bush montage and a tutorial of how to make the bands’ signature cocktail The Tropical F*ck Fizz, we dive straight into a great performance of ‘New Romeo Agent’ from their latest record on a cozy set featuring an array of gear and charisma for a new song.

After a brief intermission, shooting some of their ‘gold rekkids’ we move to a different set in the woods, where we have an-almost-acoustic set featuring ‘Aspirin’ and ‘Maria 63’ which provides a different and completely new take on the two songs, and also shows a different direction from the band that they are yet to really explore in their studio albums alluding to a bluesier sound but still with their own twist.

This brief set was capped by another intermission, followed by a different set where the drums were played on top of an old rundown trailer – the perfect scene for the absolute chaos that ensues, in complete contrast to the earlier acoustic songs. The band rips through a fantastic set featuring ‘Braindrops’, ‘The Donkey’, ‘You Let My Tyres Down’, ‘Bumma Sanger’, ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’ and ‘Paradise’. The whole set features raucous guitars and wild drums, each song is led into the next by a short sample, played to set the tone for the next song, and the energy put into these tunes is hard to believe and is a definite must- see. My favourite song from the whole movie would have to be ‘Braindrops’, the titular track from their second album, that highlights my favourite aspects of this band, whether it’s the jagged, fast-paced, noisy guitar riffs, the powerful, dynamic drumming or the beautiful lyrics and harmonies between Fi, Erica and Gaz.

Although I’ll never get those 82 minutes back, I have no regrets at all, I’d even be willing to spend another 82 on a rewatch. The brief, funny interludes between the songs do an excellent job showing the personalities and humour that drives the band. The songs were fantastic, and the performances were alive with energy and passion with small departures from the studio versions, whilst holding their magic. I can’t wait to see what the band does next and I’m equally as keen to see them live on their 2022 Australian tour.